10 Misconceptions About Chaga

Image courtesy Birch Boys

After eight years working hands-on in the forest to source wild chaga, I have learned that chaga is one of the most misunderstood organisms on Earth. While there is vast information available on the internet covering chaga’s health benefits, the same cannot be said about information on chaga’s ecology and life cycle.

Misconception #1: Chaga is a mushroom.

The #1 misconception about chaga is people falsely understand it to be a mushroom. Despite the fact that almost every time you read the word chaga online, it is followed by the word mushroom. The truth is chaga is not a mushroom.

A mushroom is a fleshy, moistureful, spore-bearing fruit of a fungus. Mushrooms are reproductive organs produced by some fungi. Some fungal organisms produce ten, hundreds, even thousands of mushrooms through their lifetime. While all mushrooms come from fungi, not all fungi produce mushrooms.

Chaga, the part of Inonotus obliquus we harvest and make tea out of, is a fungal organ known as a sclerotia (pronounced skler-osha). A sclerotia is a compacted mass of hyphae that works as a defensive control center for parasitic fungi. A sclerotia concentrates, synthesized, and stores a plethora of immune mechanizing compounds in order to protect itself from living hosts. In the case of chaga, that would be the birch tree. Chaga is fungal armor — a sclerotia that develops as a mechanism for Inonotus obliquus to defend against the birch tree’s various attempts to attack and eliminate the parasitic fungus within.

Ironically, this is exactly why chaga is so good for us. Mammalian biology has ancient roots in the fungi kingdom. Animals split from fungi some 1.538 billion years ago. Surprisingly, human DNA has much more in common with chaga’s DNA than meets the eye. Marvelously, many of the constituents that offer protection and health benefits to Inonotus obliquus can do the same for our human immune systems.

Misconception #2: If it’s called chaga, it is real chaga.

A huge red flag is the presence of mainstream chaga products on the market that use fake chaga grown on myceliated grain and brown rice flour! Compare tinctures of real chaga versus fake chaga and notice the incredibly dark color of real chaga tincture, attributable to the soluble melanin that exists in wild chaga.

While this one difference is easily discernible, there are other less-obvious questions to be raised about artificial chaga. Betulin is another valuable component of chaga, which is absorbed and inherited from the bark of birch trees.

On a lighter note, if you’ve tried chaga that didn’t taste very good from a woodsy friend or random supplier, beware of well-intended novice chaga harvesters who excitedly urge friends and family to drink it.

If it “tasted like dirt,” it may be that it was picked from a dead or fallen tree. Chaga dies shortly after the collapse of its host, so it is important for harvesters to recognize that some of the chaga in the forest has already “gone bad.” Chaga should always come from a living, standing birch tree. Quality chaga will be less crumbly, more vibrant, better for you, and pleasant tasting.

Misconception #3: Chaga has a symbiotic relationship with the birch tree.

The notion that chaga and birch trees have a symbiotic relationship makes for a great story, but this simply is not true. There is no evidence to suggest that chaga is anything other than a parasite to birch trees. Any northern hunter, logger, or outdoors person could tell you that. But it’s not hard to see for yourself.

At the end of chaga’s life cycle, it rips open a vertical section of its host’s trunk to reveal its reproductive poroid. In the vast majority of cases, this results in the death of the tree.

The scientific name of chaga’s genus, Inontus, literally means “to penetrate.” Chaga’s life begins when a microscopic chaga spore penetrates the bark of its host tree. From there, as long as the temperature is above freezing, it slowly colonizes its host until it takes over a large section of the tree’s internal heartwood. Finally, in a sort of murder-suicide, it reveals its flaky porous face to spread spores of its own.

A study done by a mycologist in Finland estimated that between 6%-30% of all birch trees are killed by chaga.

Misconception #4: Chaga only grows on birch trees.

While it is definitely true that chaga grows primarily on the birch tree, chaga also grows on a variety of different tree species. It has been found on:

• Maple
• Poplar
• Elm
• Cherry
• Hope hornbeam (ironwood)

Plus various species within the Betula (birch) family.

While chaga found on other trees may have value, a number of birch-specific compounds are an important part of chaga’s researched benefits. It is advised against consuming wild edibles you are not 100% certain about.

Chaga also has a look-alike; it can be easily be confused with Phellinus igniarius (meshima mushroom).

Image courtesy Birch Boys

Misconception #5: Chaga is not as good for the immune system as other fungi.

There is a common misconception that chaga isn’t as good for the immune system as other mushrooms such as reishi or turkey tail, due to the fact that these mushrooms have a higher concentration of beta glucan. This is an inaccurate and simplistic way of looking at chaga.

While it is true that in typical mushroom, beta glucan is a key micro-nutrient with proven immune-supporting properties, we must consider the plethora of other immune-supporting compounds found in chaga. The chemistry going on in chaga is very complex.

The global scientific community is still in the very beginning stages of understanding and classifying the powerful compounds found in chaga. A few of these notable compounds that are highly interesting to medical researchers include inotodiol, trametenolic acid, betulin and betulinic acid, fungal melanins, polyphenols, ergosterol peroxide, gallic acid, ergothioneine, and more. The aforementioned compounds all have immune supporting properties. A simple Google search on these compounds will result in much evidence of their ability to modulate and support immune function in  mammals and/or in vitro.

This literature makes it clear that when we are talking specifically about chaga, beta glucan is rather basic in the grand scheme of things, with other compounds having a superior capacity for powerful immune support. Immune support score charts based solely on beta glucan is due to the fact that beta glucan quantification tests are readily available from third party labs and accredited analysis service providers. It is not currently easy to quantify the array of immune support compounds in chaga.

Misconception #6: Chaga takes 10+ years to grow.

It is commonly said that chaga takes an extremely long time, up to 10 years, to grow to full maturity and produce spores. This is not necessarily true. While chaga consumes the heartwood of a tree before producing a reproductive poroid and ripping open a vertical section of the host tree’s trunk, the time it takes for the chaga to conduct this process is relative to the size and age of the birch tree it inhabits.

In young and skinny trees, chaga is able to fully mature, develop its sclerotia and produce its reproductive structure in a couple years. This happens often as chaga makes its way into younger forests that have been logged within the past 10-20 years.

Misconception #7: Otzi the iceman carried chaga.

Otzi the iceman was a nomad who lived during the Copper Age. He was found in the European Alps in 1991, having been preserved in the ice for 5000 years. Otzi was equipped with a pouch full of a variety of items and tools. The myth is that he was found carrying a piece of chaga, with an accompanying theory that he used it as fire starter. While it is true there is indigenous history of using chaga as a fire starter, Otzi was actually carrying hoof polypore, Fomes fomentarius, also called “tinder fungus.”

This misconception is completely understandable when you take into account that chaga and hoof polypore both possess the ability to hold an ember. Chaga will burn for an extremely long period of time without going out. It will never burst into flame, but once an ember gets started, it simply won’t go out without a fight. If you use chaga as an incense or fire starter, remember that it can be dangerous. Unless submerged completely underwater for a serious length of time, it may reignite.

Image courtesy Birch Boys

Misconception #8: Chaga has no history of indigenous use in the U.S.

It’s commonly said that all of the indigenous usage of chaga occurred exclusively in Russian/Siberia, and that the indigenous people of the Americas did not use chaga. This isn’t a topic well-documented or easily found online. The devastating reason for that is the intentional destruction of indigenous knowledge, culture, and history that occurred during the colonization era — an atrocity.

I have been incredibly fortunate to learn from members of the Haudenosaunee (ho-den-o-sho-nee) people, or Six Nations (the name given to them the English was Iroquois), whose peoples occupied much of what is now northern New York, the Great Lakes region, and Ontario. The word Haudenosaunee means “people of the longhouse.”

They built the walls, siding, and roofs of these longhouses with strong panels of bark from the yellow birch tree (Betula alleghaniensis). Softer white birch trees were also used to make canoes.

The Haudenosaunee used chaga as a natural medicine, but they also used chaga as an additive to enhance smoking tobacco. Chaga’s ember-retaining properties enable a longer lasting tobacco smoking experience.

Tobacco is considered a sacred medicine in the Haudenosaunee culture. It was often left as a gift of reciprocity at the base of birch trees during a chaga harvest. There is indeed much historical indigenous use of chaga in the U.S., but unfortunately much of it may remain largely unknown. (Learn more about the history of healing in the Adirondacks.)

Misconception #9: Chaga is snake oil.

Since there’s so much hype about chaga’s benefits, but we still haven’t heard anything about it from mainstream medicine, chage must not work, right? There is an important distinction between something like an herb or natural remedy like chaga and a prescription drug.

A natural substance, fungus or herbs is going to be rich in a number of different compounds, and these compounds — whether healing or not — will be present in differing concentrations from one specimen to the next.

In contrast, with pharmaceuticals, a compound or micro-nutrient is isolated and concentrated to meet a specific dosage. These compounds and micro-nutrients often are directly or indirectly derived from nature. After the compound is isolated and concentrated, the process will then move into clinical trials, which test on hundreds to thousands of people with varying demographics. Only after a clinical trial is completed will an isolated compound become a medication.

It would be great if there were a clinical trial on chaga as a whole, but it’s incredibly unlikely that will ever happen. A clinical trial costs millions of dollars to sponsor. It’s much more likely an established pharmaceutical company will focus on a specific component such as betulin, inotodiol, trametenolic acid, etc, and find a way to synthesize that compound in a lab setting. That way, the company can patent the process to produce a medication and build a business around it. That’s the way western medicine works.

Big Pharma and independent researchers alike are indeed looking at the constituents in chaga, and attempting to find a way to synthesize them as price-protected intellectual property. I believe some of these constituents will indeed become patented medications, but you will never be prescribed chaga tinctures or chaga tea from a licensed physician. There is, however, a very real potential future medications will be discovered thanks to chaga.

Misconception #10: Chaga harvesters threaten chaga’s sustainability.

This is not true. If there are any clear and present dangers to wild chaga, it would have to be logging and deforestation. Forested land is assessed based on the value of its timber, and for this reason chaga is painted in a very negative light throughout much of the logging industry.

In fact, numerous logging companies have sustainable forest management plans that include targeted killing of all birch trees that show signs of chaga growth. The traditional field of forestry perceives chaga as a parasitic threat to timber value. For many years, long before chaga’s rise in the spheres of health food/functional supplements, chaga has been treated as an unhealth disease to the forest.

That said, it seems that change is on the horizon. Suddenly, the timber industry and land management companies are becoming more open to the idea there exists value in nature beyond timber. People in high places are starting to become more receptive to permaculture principles, not only because it is the right thing to do, but because it may also offer a more lucrative future model of doing business in the woods going forward.

If we look forward to the future of chaga’s sustainability, it must be embraced as a valuable wild crop in northern wild forests. There is a triangle of interdependence between birch trees, chaga and people. Good forest management is what it is all about, and it will be advocacy for the protection and natural regeneration of conducive chaga habitats, led by chaga harvesters, that will secure a sustainable future for wild chaga.

If you are in an urban or suburban area, you’re not likely going to find any chaga. This is not due to some irresponsible harvester stealing all the chaga from these areas. It’s because there’s no trees there that support chaga. There’s no old growth stands of yellow birch because we cut them all down long ago. Anywhere we’re cutting down forests to make farmland, cities, highways, parking lots or developments impacts an inconceivable number of species once found there. That is the biggest threat to chaga.

Fungi-enthusiasts need to embrace wild chaga, and wild chaga harvesters need to abide by a fact-driven code of ethics informed by chaga’s life cycle. The scope spans far beyond the chaga harvester. It’s even bigger than the timber industry. It’s the bugs, spiders, animals, plants, nature, ecology and the natural path. We humans need to change our ways on a large scale. Without that, every single species is threatened, including chaga.  (Read more about chaga’s sustainability.)

Reprinted with permission from www.birchboys.com

Garrett Kopp is the chaga visionary and founder of Birch Boys, Inc, well-known for its assortment of teas, tinctures and extracts from healing wild fungi. Having shipped to over 20,000 individuals throughout all 50 states, Birch Boys has organically grown into a nationally recognized online brand. Kopp is proud to have built a vertically integrated supply chain, sustainably sourcing the fruits of tree-borne fungi from over 220,000 acres of leased private land in the Adirondack Park of Tupper Lake, NY. Visit www.birchboys.com.

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